MUTEK >> EDITION 17 PREVIEW

As I'm sure many of you electronically inclined individuals out there know, MUTEK is coming up. For those of you who don't know what MUTEK is, or know it's an electronic festival and want more details, here's a brief synopsis of why many of us get so hyped each year.

MUTEK isn't an electronic musical festival akin to the ones most Montrealers are used to. For many Montrealers electronic music festival rings Igloofest or Piknic Électronik (depending on the season), but those festivals are usually more about the party than the music. MUTEK offers audiophiles and art-lovers an extremely immersive musical experience accompanied by live visuals. By visuals I don't mean lights, flares, or your typical festival showmanship. The visuals MUTEK offers are performed live by internationally-renowned visual artists. The combination of live or orchestrated visuals bring the festival into the terrain of an electronic arts festival rather than just a music festival. Many of the shows have more of a sit-down feel, one where you just want to tune in and let yourself drift into the experience.

This year's MUTEK festival is flaunting a wide range of Canadian artists such as Essaie Pas, Ex-Terrestrial, Burundi Index, Project Pablo, Kara-Lis Coverdale, Julia Kent, Tim Hecker, Local Artist (which is an amazing artist name), and many more. Many of these artists are from right here, in home sweet Montreal.

Essaie Pas are a local industrial/cold wave duo that have chiselled their music into tightly packed analog waves and dissonant melodies. They recently signed to DFA Records and brought a little piece of Montreal around Europe on their most recent tour. If you listen to Electric Café, you have for sure heard them. We love them!

Another is Project Pablo, a local deep house/techno producer whose has somehow managed to craft enticing unique soundscapes for those who may sometimes be pessimistic about fresh new sounds in the genre of house and techno. He has recently self released a new EP called Priorities. Priorities is a smooth dance album that layers mellow jazz chords and ambient instrumentals for an oddly refreshing fusion that almost sounds like a live band recording. I usually don't like things that have jazz fusion associated with them, but if this album qualifies as fusion I swear I'm converted. I think I would give the album a 9/10 and that's only because I hardly ever ever give a 10, so to me it's nearly perfect.

MUTEK is also bringing in a large number of female artists this year. As a [male] feminist, I know the music scene can wind up being a bit of a boy's club, so I totally encourage as many women as possible to get involved, and I applaud MUTEK for taking the time to book so many women. Local female talent that will be performing includes Julia Kent and Kara-Lis Coverdale. What I love about Kara-Lis' is her very crisp ambient music, that is much more delicate than most, and almost sounds like the wind drifting by. Kara-Lis will be performing for Nocturne 2 on June 2nd along with Montreal experimental drone artist Tim Hecker.

Experience 1, a free series of events in the Quartier des spectacles, starts on Thursday, June 2nd and highlights many Montreal artists. The typical Experience lineup has one international headliner accompanied by an all-Montreal cast of artists, such as Burundi Index, the Booma Collective, and Ex-Terrestrial.

Burundi Index, starring duo Adam Feingold and Matt Salaciak (the founders of local label, Temple), offers us a very cerebral orchestra of vintage and modern analog gear. Full disclaimer: Matt Salaciak is also co-host of Electric Café, but since I'm writing this, it's okay for me to tell you to go see them, right? Either way, it's a free show so my bias is okay.

Feingold will also be there as his solo project Ex-Terrestrial, which we've played for you all on our show; it's so very fine grained but smooth techno; if you get a chance head over to his SoundCloud to check out Blue Smoke. We also highly recommend checking out local collective Booma, in which Electric Café has had the pleasure to host Oren, Paul, and Lorenzo from the collective on our show. Lorenzo recently joined us to play his collection of beautifully swirling Italian electronic jams and chat about live & music.

Moving on to international artists, Polish duo T'ien Lai will be joining the Nocturne lineup to give listeners a break from the beating pulse of MUTEK's evening show. T'ien Lai uses their analog gear to create very organic electro acoustic soundscapes that paint a very vibrant emotional picture. Not emotional in a roller coaster sense, but in a slow building discovery of the workings and turnings of life. You can catch T'ien Lai at Nocturne 4 on June 4th. Also playing Nocturne 4 is New York artist Terekke. Terekke plays some of the purest, cloudiest (think fluffy) techno around, and is definitely worth checking out. He recently self-released his new album, ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°), and of course it was released as a pseudonym (just as the prior was released as X).

One of my all-time favourite artists, and one I feel is fairly underrated, is UIQ founder Lee Gamble. For those unaware of his work, Lee Gamble makes some of the most beautifully rough ambient techno. He somehow manages to add so many layers to his music without sounding overcompensating. His most recently released LP, KOCH, melds soothing synth chords with raw but curated analog noise that is reminiscent of a gently passing storm of techno. He's paired with artist Dave Gaskarth to curate an audiovisual experience they call "Foldings". Foldings will have its international debut at MUTEK on June 1st, you can check out a preview below. He will be performing Foldings at the MAC for Nocturne 1, but will also be sticking around for Experience 2 with some Montreal natives on June 3rd, so stay tuned for that. There are way too many great international artists for me to fit into the preview, but these ones you can't miss!

Before MUTEK begins, they will be hosting a VR Salon at Phi Centre, in collaboration with VR Valley Network Montréal. This will be running from May 30th to May 31st for it's second year in a row. Ash Koosha, an Iranian composer that has focused his past music on political issues in Iran, will be at MUTEK this year. He has been touring with his most recent album that was created in tandem with VR for a unique experience. It hasn't been disclosed if he'll be showing that at MUTEK or not, but it's worth keeping your ear to the ground.

One of my first and most memorable MUTEK experiences was at A/Visions. Back when MUTEK hosted A/Visions at the SAT, they projected artists work onto the SAT's dome for live 3D art as artists played. I was there by coincidence while Container was playing. One of the beautiful things about MUTEK is discovering amazing live acts, Container is now one of my all-time favourite techno artists, especially live. He was playing some very abrasive techno from Chicago, and they were projecting transient shifting geometry on the dome beating to the pulse of his drum machine. There are still Satosphere events like this, but these usually run separately from MUTEK, or on occasional years there's a special feature at the Satosphere.

A/Visions 1 & 2 will be held at Salle Pierre-Mercure at UQAM, but luckily for us this year MUTEK will be pairing up with Boiler Room for a special TBA lineup in the Satosphere. Although they still incorporate music, A/Visions is a bit different from Metropolis and Nocturne in the sense that it's primarily visual. Some shows are mainly projections accompanied by music and prepared by one or two artists to present instead of perform. Other shows can take the form of live plays as have occurred in past years. All of the upcoming A/Visions come highly recommended, even if you usually attend the Nocturne or Metropolis.

For those who are actually musicians and artists, DIGI_SECTION is hosting a series of workshops and talks aimed at a more experienced audience. These workshops include advanced synthesis techniques hosted by Moog and Roland, some home-brewed synthesis construction, and classes on visual programs like Autodesk. Toronto-based writer and editor Greg J. Smith from HOLO Magazine / Creativeapplications.net is doing a Q&A with Marcel Weber on June 3rd, and the Electronic Music Association of Concordia (EMAC) will be a MUTEK hosting a few master-class workshops with Concordia electronic musicians and performing MUTEK artists such as Julia Kent. Concordia student or not, come drop by and hang out with us!

-- Matthew Halpenny hosts Electric Café every Tuesday at 8 PM, only on CJLO!